The Vampire's Bride (Atlantis #4)(85)

"Alyssa the vampire?" Everyone knew of Shivawn's dislike of the species.

He gave a stiff nod.

"I should have guessed, as...fierce as you were with her." Valerian tsked in sympathy. "She is a warrior, not easily conquered."

"No. She isn't a warrior. She doesn't want to be. Perhaps never wanted to be." But for him, she had fought. Oh, yes, he owed her more than he could ever repay. Forever wouldn't be long enough to pamper her.

Valerian didn't look as if he believed the claim. "Still, she has known battle. If you desire her as you say - "

"I do." With everything inside him. He wanted her more than he'd ever wanted another.

"Then you must now fight for her, with her. It will probably be the bloodiest battle of your life."

But the reward would make any injuries worth it. "I will do whatever's necessary. I just have to find her." She was hiding from him, he knew that. Might assume he meant to search for her just to kill her. Punish her at the very least.

He'd vowed to do so, after all.

Had any man ever been so foolish? She could chain him, hold him prisoner. If he was with her, he wouldn't care about anything else.

"Does she have family?" Valerian asked.

His brows furrowed as he pondered that. Did she? She never spoke of them if she did. "I do not think so."

Valerian was frowning, scrubbing his jaw with two fingers. "Brothers," he said, then nodded. "She had brothers."

Shivawn hated that he had not known that. He wanted to learn everything there was to know about her. Then one of Valerian's words got caught in his thoughts. "Had? They died?"

"I believe Layel mentioned they were unruly, cruel. They must have been, for they were killed, their heads removed, their bodies nailed to trees." He nodded as if the vampire king's words were echoing in his mind. "From what I gathered, they were demons, though Alyssa had no idea Layel knew that about her, and their queen never found their murderer."

Everything inside of Shivawn went still, his blood chilling to ice. Not because he hated what Alyssa was - he could not hate any part of her - but because of what he'd just realized he might have taken from her. If she truly was half-demon, and if her brothers had been killed in that manner...that meant...Shivawn thought he might vomit.

Once, long ago, he had decapitated three demon warriors and nailed them to trees. "How many were there?" he croaked out. "Brothers, I mean."

"I do not recall their exact number. Two. Perhaps three. Evidently their horns had been cut off, along with their heads."

The ice burst into millions of tiny slivers, cutting his every organ, felling him. Three. There'd been three. "I killed them," he managed to work past the hard knot in his throat. "I did it. Took their heads. Removed their horns. Strung them up."

Valerian straightened. "They were the ones..."

"Yes." He felt like such a fool. That was why Alyssa had always reminded him of that horrid night. Those demon eyes had stared up at him as his sword struck, in reality, in his nightmares - eyes just like hers. Only, hers were kind and loving. Maybe he'd smelled her demon blood, as well. Maybe she had been there, and he'd subconsciously sensed it.

Of course she'd been there, he thought, though she wouldn't have participated. She'd probably been hiding and scared. He had caught her watching him soon after, ducking whenever he glanced her way.

He had wronged her far more than he'd supposed. He had despised all demons for what had happened to his father, yet Alyssa had had every reason to despise him. That she didn't was a miracle. That she had looked at him with tenderness and desire in her lovely eyes was even more so.

Until two days ago, when he'd ruined everything.

"What are you going to do?"

Shivawn thought he knew where she was now. The one place he'd never thought to go again. The one place he'd vowed never to go again. The site of his father's death.

"I'm going to get my woman," he said determinedly. Whether she wanted him or not.

THE GLOWING ORANGE-YELLOW BALL of fire rose in the sky, higher and higher, burning Zane's skin but not truly harming him, as the gods had promised. He wished it would. He welcomed every sting.

Nola had rejected him.

She didn't want him, didn't crave his touch as he craved hers. That was not supposed to have happened. She'd been wild in his arms; she'd even cried his name. He'd been so sure of his reception, once he declared himself. The gods owed him. He hadn't expected her to run from him, hate him, as Cassandra had.

She'd looked at him as if he were the very demon he'd just watched die. Demons - how they sickened him. They thrived on pain, screams, agony - the pain, screams and agony they inflicted on others. They loved to hurt their partner while f*cking. And he'd endured it. Had hated himself, but he'd let the cruelest of them all do whatever she wanted to him. He wouldn't think about that. Too painful. When he'd left, Cassandra done with him, he'd thought - hoped - to never have sex again.

But Nola...the beautiful Amazon had made him want to try, to have the simple pleasure he'd enjoyed a lifetime ago. Before...just before. But no. She loathed him.

Somehow she must know, deep down, what he'd been. What he still was. He closed his eyes against a too-bright ray, the burn intensifying on his face. What had he expected? Her to fall at his feet? Beg him to pleasure her?